The doctrine of the Trinity is fundamental to Christianity, which is the only religion that believes in the Trinity of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. However, while some modem theologians believe the doctrine of the Trinity is not present in the New Testament, others employ a systematic theology method to prove its existence in the New Testament. We are unsatisfied with the conclusions of the first group and with the methodology of the second. Therefore, this thesis searches for a new method to analyze what the New Testament reveals about the Trinity. We think the answer is found in Bauckham’s novel divine identity theory which describes the way God reveals His identity in relation to the cosmos as sole Creator and Ruler, and in relation to Israel as Redeemer and by His unique name YHWH. Since divine identity methodology is successful in showing Jesus' inclusion in the divine identity of the one God of Israel, our research applies the same categories to the Spirit of God in the Old Testament and in John’s Gospel. We also recommend that God's role as Teacher should be seen as another category of the divine identity model. Our conclusion is that the Fourth Gospel and perhaps other New Testament writings reveal the Spirit as participating in the divine identity; therefore, the Gospel of John and possibly other New Testament texts reveal God as Trinity. The categories of divine identity evolve and function within the framework of ancient Jewish monotheism. Thus, they paint the New Testament God in different nuances than the Greek philosophical categories of the Patristics, but the painting depicts God as Trinity nonetheless.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:707815 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Ile, Cristian Stefan |
| Publisher | Queen's University Belfast |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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